The Best Christmas Ever!

Before and After






We had a great Christmas. The kids all loved every present. I think getting older makes gift giving and receiving so much easier and more enjoyable. Dallin's Temple day was very nice. Thanks to all of you who came and participated. Thanks to Duane and Deb for hosting the after party. Here is a video of Dallin "celebrating" at their house. So typical. He is a nut.






We also got to spend a few hours at the Gordons in Miami. It was great to catch up with everyone. Of course we missed David and Odessa and kids, but we will see them in Feb. (Darrin, Dustin, Raun, and I are going to visit)

"the teenagers"


Grandma and Ellawyn

Happy New Years everyone.

Check out the Courier!

Emily's BB team played in the Eastern Arizona Holiday Tournament last week and did very well. Check out the articles in the Courier. Emily is in
3 of them on . Go to: www.eacourier.com It is on the first page, just scroll down. She made the all-tournament team and was the high scorer two games in a row. Pretty good for a VB player. She was also named 3A VB player of the year.(article included) My kids are just so talented what can I say. They didn't get it from me! It's that Gordon blood.

Dallin's Temple and Farewell Date

We have a date for Dallin's Temple endowment and farewell. We will go to the 9:00 am session on saturday the 29th of December. We will go down the night before and "play" as Dallin puts it. We would like to gather for lunch right after the session as well. Any suggestions? His meeting formerly know as farewell will be Jan. 13th at 9:oo am. Our building is across from the fair grounds in Safford. Everyone is invited to both events. The mission swiftly approaches. See you all soon.

Darrin's Mom

Many of you may have heard that Darrin's mom, Nelda, had a stroke on saturday the 15th. That was the initial diagnosis, however, after 3 days in the hospital, they are leaning toward something else. She has only one side effect, that they can tell, and that is that she cannot remember saturday at all. She is home now and we will see how things go. Darrin spent the 3 days staying with his dad who has late stage Parkinsons. It seems as though everything will be back to normal soon. Our weekend was so intensely emotional that we are all exhausted. Our family and Brooks and Janiel raked the leaves at Mom and Dad's and then I stayed and did Mom's hair. She was very emotional and not feeling well. She said she was crying because someone sympathyed (?) Later we got a frantic call from Darrin's sister asking if Darrin could drive to Miami to stay with his dad while his mom was in St. Joe's in Phoenix. This was while we were driving to our ward Christmas party. I was supposed to lead 2 choir numbers and direct the YW on the handbells. I'm afraid I was a bit of a mess for the first 10 minutes, but I recovered and made it through. Thanks for all the calls of concern for Nelda, it was very touching to have my family be so caring for my in-laws. 2008 has to be easier. Right?

The Count-Down Begins

Dallin finished at ASU for the semester and has moved back home to get ready to leave on his mission. It all feels unreal at the moment, but I'm sure it will sink in soon. Everyone is so excited to have him back. I think he is too. We are still determining a Temple and non-Farewell date, but will let everyone know ASAP. It all kind of depends on my mothers' health. Dallin really wants to have her there with him. Just can't believe that Christmas is right around the corner. I guess I better get busy. Visit us again soon!

Volleyball Awards Night.

Emily had her Volleyball awards banquet last night, and she came away with a ton of awards. Some of them we knew about, but some we didn't. Here they are in order. Best All Around Player-1,017 on target sets, played every position during every single game. Season team record. 20-2.
3A Conference All State Honors Team. 3A South All Region Team. 3A South Volleyball Player of the Year. 3A South All Star Team. (They will play in June.) And our favorite of the evening was the shirt the JV coach gave her. Emily was the brunt of most of Coach Ward's yelling all season. When the JV coach asked her how she could be so calm when she was yelled at she said, "All I hear is BLAH, BLAH, BLAH." Check out the picture. It was really Em's night and well deserved. Way to go Em!

Mandy, Emily, and Bea.

Emily and Jesse.

Wonder What I Do?

As you know, I am leaving the hair business soon, but I wanted you to see a few of my favorite clients and what I do to them every week. These first too are sisters: Stella and Lucille, 90 and 92 respectively. They are a riot. Stella is outspoken, funny, sarcastic and boisterous.

Lucille is demure, ladylike, softspoken, and proper. They come together every friday and we have the best time. I will miss them immenseley.

This is Denise. She is an old friend of Darrin's mom Nelda. She is the art teacher at Safford Middle School. She comes every week too, but also gets color, highlights, deep conditioners, etc. She likes to pamper herself. She is very fun. These pictures are to help them "train" a new stylist. (one of the emotional drags of doing hair is the dependence they feel toward me.) I hope to get a Christmas card to all of you soon, but I am not promising anything. So.. if you don't get one. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

5 Hour Flight to Vegas!

Believe it or not, it took us 5 hours to get to Vegas on friday. The Vegas airport was closed for that length of time because of low visibility. Yuck. We could have driven in less time. Oh well, we had a good time anyway. Talk about a lot of food. The AUGA (Darrin's Utility Group) sure spares no expense. I think we ate enough for 2 weeks. It was yummy though. We got to spend Sunday with Steve and Liz and Lisa and John. That was nice. Our flight home was delayed as well, because of connecting flights from Minneapolis who had a huge snow storm. Talk about Gordon luck. Darrin just started year #7 as bishop of our ward and of course it is Tithing Settlement time, so....our family picture was taken at the church again.

This year it is outside instead of in Darrin's office. Happy Holidays to everyone and thanks for noticing us.